To Widow, Golf Club Was Anything But Hospitable

HOWARD GOODMAN COMMENTARY

Boca Greens, a golf and tennis club west of Boca Raton, fancies itself a very friendly place.

Here's an ad they're running in newspapers:

"Looking for a country club with old-fashioned warmth, charm and hospitality? Then look no further."

Sylvia Pressman gave a bitter little laugh when I read that to her.

She and her husband Sam joined Boca Greens in 1985. Sam was a retired lawyer and an avid golfer. The couple's equity membership cost $6,950.

Sam died of a heart attack in December 1988. Sylvia, suddenly a widow, sent a letter of resignation. Under club rules, resignations went in effect the next September. She'd have to pay dues until then, though she didn't golf or use the facilities.

The club told her that if she didn't pay, they'd shame her by posting her name on a bulletin board as a delinquent member.

She paid up: $2,271.

According to documents collected by Mrs. Pressman's nephew, Michael Merlob, the only way to sell her membership was to wait until the club signed up a new member to take her place.

When that happened, she would get back her original $6,950 plus 60 percent of the increase in her membership's value. According to a letter from the club treasurer in September 1990, she could expect this sum to be $14,780

And so Sylvia Pressman went on the "resigned members" list, 29th in line for a redemption.

After that she heard nothing from Boca Greens.

For 15 years.

Boca Greens' lengthy silence ended this summer. Mrs. Pressman, now 86, got a letter in July saying that her membership finally had come up for redemption.

The sum she would receive for her equity membership?

Zero.

What in the world had happened to the money? Her nephew, Merlob, asked around. He learned the club changed its by-laws in February 2002.

Under this change, resigned members are charged for capital improvements made to the club between the time they resign and the time their membership comes up for redemption.

Thus, Mrs. Pressman was charged $6,400 for a capital improvement -- made in 1993! And she was charged $4,500 for something in 2000.

No one had told Mrs. Pressman that the by-laws were going to be changed and her funds depleted. As a resigned member, she gave up her voting rights.

"Terribly unjust," is how she puts it.

I tried to ask Boca Greens about this. I e-mailed, phoned and sent questions in writing. Club president Stanley Horbar wrote back to say no comment.

He said that although the club "denies the accuracy" of some elements of Mrs. Pressman's account, "we will not engage in a debate over those matters with you."

Meanwhile, an attorney for the club, Howard Poznanski, wrote to Mrs. Pressman, stating the club was on solid legal ground. He pointed out that the Pressmans had agreed when signing up for membership to abide by the by-laws "as may exist from time to time."

Merlob isn't satisfied, and he's preparing a complaint with the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Terry McElroy, a department spokesman, told me the agency might try to mediate in the matter but has no authority over country clubs.

It's possible that dozens of people are in the same boat. Merlob says he once saw a "resigned members" list with 150 names on it. But that information isn't easy to obtain. Boca Greens is a private club and not obligated to make disclosures.

Mrs. Pressman isn't destitute. She lives on the Boca oceanfront. She gets Social Security and a postal worker's pension.

But she was counting on that country-club money and waited years -- only to learn the club had stripped her of it.

This might be legal.

But it's hardly warm. Or charming. Or hospitable.

Howard Goodman's column is published Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. He can be reached at hgoodman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6638.